Career Development

Join critical discussions about issues facing historians in all professions

Learn about the full diversity of historians’ employment

Plan what’s next for your career, whether you’re an undergraduate, PhD candidate, early career historian, or beyond

Gain new skills to improve your research, teaching, and public engagement

Insights into Local History and Culture

Explore the unique history of the host city and region

Join a tour with local experts to top museums and historic sites

Discover local cuisine with new and old friends

Now Accepting Proposals for Late-Breaking Sessions!

The AHA invites proposals for a very limited number of late-breaking sessions. These sessions should explore either major, late-breaking controversies within the discipline or the relevance of history and historical thinking to public policy and culture related to current events. We strongly encourage organizers to build panels that encompass a range of perspectives. Sessions that adopt an international approach are particularly welcome.

Note: This opportunity is not a second chance for proposals not originally accepted by the Program Committee. The goal of this program is to enable historians to engage major issues that have only recently crossed our horizon, that either relate directly to our work, or call for historical context and commentary. The bar for acceptance will be considerably higher than through the regular process.

Perspectives February 2017: The Annual Meeting Special Issue

Each year’s February issue of Perspectives tries to evoke memories of the most recent annual meeting—January 5–8 in Denver, in this case—through as many conference-inspired news stories, essays, and photographs as can fit into 40 pages. The annual meeting has evolved radically to incorporate innovative session formats, a broadening spectrum of research topics and methodologies, opportunities to exchange ideas about teaching, and most importantly, a far more diverse representation of our community. So for 2017’s February issue, we gesture to the past, acknowledging where we came from and thinking about where we might still go.

What People Are Saying

The AHA annual meeting has always been an intellectual joy for me, a chance to hear new work from historians old and young and to debate and reaffirm the values important to us as scholars, teachers, and colleagues.

Participating in the annual meeting is a vital way to gain new perspectives – whether the issue is a research agenda, teaching, or the state of the discipline. I always come away with some new avenues to explore, whether the source is a formal session or an unexpected hallway conversation.

- Peter Stearns, George Mason University

Meeting some of my Twitter followers in person was possibly the best part of the entire AHA. People who I’d only seen as tiny avatars were now real people! ("AHA16 Report from the Field" on lisamunro.net)

- Lisa Monroe, PhD

The American Historical Association's annual conference was a truly eye-opening experience for me. I’m considering studying history in college, and getting to hear a plethora of historians talk about the work they have done and the things they have had the opportunity to study really reaffirmed my love of history and showed me some of the things I could be doing in the future. ("Seeing Historical Research Come to Life at the AHA Conference" on darlingtonschool.org)

- Emily Robertson, high school senior

This was exactly the sort of session I would hope for at the AHA: fellow professionals comparing notes on a common challenge we all face. It felt like a support group.

- Glen Gendzel, San José State University

I had an amazing time at the conference. I really loved it! Being an Americanist in Ireland can be difficult at times because there are very few people with whom I can discuss my work or new research. However, going to the conference gave me the opportunity to do all that. [...] I also got to meet some really interesting people and we’re already in talks about possible collaborations. ("AHA 2016" on annemariebrosnan.wordpress.com)

- Annemarie Brosnan, international graduate student

[I]n recent years the AHA has attempted to diversify and broaden its content in an effort to create value for its ever evolving constituency. Remarkably, the AHA purposefully and successfully moved toward this intention by creating a program this year that appealed to an array of historians with diverse professional backgrounds and areas of expertise and interest. Impressive! ("Top 10 Takeaways from the American Historical Association Annual Meeting" on ramonahouston.com)

- Ramona Houston, PhD

The AHA annual meeting is a diverse space that incorporates all aspects of concern for professional historians. It continues to include sessions on the newest research, but has expanded to provide more engaging teaching workshops. More importantly, it is now providing more sessions related to higher education politics and policy that faculty and public historians can no longer ignore. The meeting, once viewed solely for job interviews, is now the place for all historians to engage in cross institutional and regional conversations.

- Trinidad Gonzales, South Texas College

History as a discipline just keeps getting better and better. And history in its many contexts - not only history education at every level but historical thinking in all kinds of public settings - is ever more important. There is nothing better than the panels and presentations and publications and hall conversations of the annual meeting for a concentrated catch-up on what is happening in the field.

- Barbara Metcalf, University of California, Davis

We all have our professional associations where like-minded colleagues meet and greet, but the AHA is where I go to educate myself on what else - after all, most of what goes on - is happening. The comprehensive supra-regional/multi-methodological program, unique (sic!) to the AHA, is an energizing breath of fresh air, every year, even in the dead of winter. And I get to see old friends, too.

- Joseph C. Miller, University of Virginia

My first trip to the winter AHA meeting was a whirlwind of activity. One of the best aspects was getting to meet many of the historians I’ve gotten to know online through Twitter and blogging. It really seemed like many of the conversations we’ve had online seamlessly transitioned to the offline world. ("Paul Putz Reports from AHA 2016 on American Religious Biography" on thewayofimprovement.com)

- Paul Putz, doctoral student

It provides the best sense of the current preoccupations of the profession and insight into how important questions are being explored and treated by a wide variety of historians in all fields. No other meeting has the scope and variety of the AHA and, especially for younger scholars, it offers wonderful access to the ideas and topics that are engaging historians and likely to be pertinent as they enter the field.

- Gabrielle Spiegel, Johns Hopkins University

AHA 2016 was an exciting and bustling conference featuring a wealth of research based on a variety of national and transnational frameworks. The 2017 annual meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado, with the theme 'Historical Scale: Linking Levels of Experience,' looks as if it may have a different tenor, but will surely be just as stimulating. ("Review: American Historical Association Annual Meeting" on baas.ac.uk)